LAHORE: Apparently perturbed over the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Islamabad protest plan for Nov 2, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has appealed to the nation to defeat it by not responding to the party’s call.

Shahbaz on Monday even chose the event held in connection with the Republic Day of Turkey at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on The Mall to chide the PTI for holding a sit-in.

“PTI is trying to block the road to progress, but this nation will foil its plan,” the chief minister said, adding justice was in the party’s manifesto but it was itself violating it.

“History is being created as Pakistan is receiving a huge sum of money -- $50bn from China and Turky -- for development projects. We should be thankful to these countries and get united to foil the designs of those who are creating hurdles in the way to progress. Such opportunities don’t come your way even in decades,” he said.

The chief minister first addressed the audience in English and paid tribute to the Turkish people for their bravery and sacrifices in foiling the military coup in their country. He then switching over to Urdu and despite admitting that that was not an occasion to talk about local political issues, took on the PTI and told it to refrain from staging its “anti-progress sit-in”.

Turkish ambassador Mr Babur Girgin said Pakistan was the only country whose parliament came out in support of the Turkish government against the coup. He also announced establishment of cultural centres in Lahore and Karachi.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2016